Debbie Sarich, 46, of Putnam Valley collected 2,144 pairs of shoes for Project Sole to raise funds to help with the adoption a 2-year-old Ethiopian girl.

Written by

Robert Marchant

After collecting 2,144 pairs of shoes, Debbie Sarich is a step closer to her goal of adopting another child.

The Putnam Valley mom, who is raising three children, teamed with a nonprofit organization that sends used footwear to poor countries to gather a mountain of shoes. She's getting up to $2 per pair, and the fundraising effort will help cover the costs of adopting a 2-year-old girl from Ethiopia, Tselot, who has cerebral palsy.

"It was a lot of work," said Sarich, a pediatric physical therapist, "We packaged up 33 boxes, all different kinds of shoes, some of them a little stinky. It was an ...